Legends about Legends

When you ask old members to write an article, you will get old news and memories from the past! In 2003, a miracle happened to the Tennis Club in the form of a Women’s Senior 3.0 Team  who made it all the way to USTA Nationals in Scottsdale, Arizona. Captain Ruth Stiasny, and her team of 14 made it through the regular season as winners. They then won  the Northern California regionals in Napa and qualified to represent Nor Cal in the Arizona Nationals. 10 members of that team made the trek to Arizona . The four members that did not go were: Lynn Leonard, Jean Peters, Rayna Kelley and Marianne Pellegrini.  Many fans and Villagers followed and had a great time doing “fan support.”

Our accommodations left a bit to be desired but the price was right. We had free breakfast and a great Happy Hour which made up for the sad rooms. All of us ended staying there and the togetherness added to the fun.

As we recall, it was around September of 2003 and was warm. The players had schedules and we watched all games but also had time to play golf and sightsee.  Since they started winning everytime they played, we were is a state of  great excitement.  Our local Tennis Pro and Coach Ken Dehart showed up one day to watch! They worked quite a lot with him before they went to Arizona.  All of a sudden they were in the Semi-Finals and lost for the first time to a team from Monroe, Louisiana who ended up winning the whole Tournament! The Village team then played the other Semi team and won ending  up in 3rd Place!  We were all  ecstatic!

The amazing thing is that out of the 10 players, 9 still live in the Villages and only one, Marilyn Jacobs has moved to the Terraces in Los Gatos. Each player received a Pewter Plate which they proudly display and one turned it into a clock!  We were able to , on short notice, find 5 players for a 2023 photo!

If you run into any of these ladies, remind them that you know what they were doing 20 years ago!